As computer systems and data communications systems have developed, the number and variety of hard copy output engines employed in a typical office or factory setting has grown. Examples include photo copiers, facsimile machines, printers and devices including more than one of these capabilities. In turn, this has led to a need to be able to order greater number of consumable supplies, some of which are specific to specific types of hard copy output engines.
As need for these types of hard copy output engines has grown, a number of different manufacturers have developed different hard copy output engines providing different operational characteristics and capabilities. While some consumables associated with these devices are common to most or all such devices (e.g., standardized paper sizes), other consumables, such as toners and toner supply cartridges and fusers, ink reservoirs, rollers and transfer belts, among others, tend to be unique to a specific manufacturer. Additionally, different hard copy output engines may have different paper capacities, capabilities for accepting more or fewer paper sizes and different toner or other pigment supply requirements and capacities.
It is generally helpful to have a mechanism for keeping track of usage of consumables in keeping computer systems functional. For example, it is extremely helpful to ensure that adequate supplies of replacement paper and toner or ink are available when needed.
Coordination of orders for supplies can be very helpful to avoid over- or under-stocking of these consumables, while still achieving the benefits of economies of scale by pooling orders to service multiple hard copy output engines, especially those using at least some of the same consumables. However, in many business settings, the sheer number of diverse hard copy output engines being used in different aspects or divisions of the business may lead to confusion in maintaining adequate supplies of these consumables.
What is needed is a way to facilitate provision of data providing a communications link to suppliers of consumables, as well as data describing consumable status, for a network including one or more hard copy output engines.